The state Senate passed a bill Thursday designed to protect Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks from damaging development projects.
Lawmakers want to settle a dispute between two regulatory boards over renewing protections for the site.
Located in Nags Head, Jockey's Ridge is the largest active sand dune on the East Coast and it's home to a state park. The Senate bill designates the surrounding land as an area of environmental concern.
It includes restrictions on the removal of sand from the site in any future construction projects.
Republican Senator Bobby Hanig of Currituck County proposed the measure.
“This puts protections on Jockeys Ridge in statute to assure the citizens of North Carolina that Jockey's Ridge will be protected forever," he said.
Most of those protections have been in place before, but they haven't been renewed because of a dispute between the state's Coastal Resources Commission and the Rules Review Commission. Democratic Senator Mike Woodard said those commissions are failing to do their jobs.
The bill now goes to the House.